If you attended an NHRA national event any time over the past two and a half decades, you’ll have no doubt watched him and his flamed rig in action. He’s the guy called upon to perform all sorts of welding repairs on all sorts of race cars – mending everything from mangled headers to fixing “pipe” on bent cars many would deem unrepairable. The guy behind the welding mask is Paul “Torch” LeSage. And the truth is, LeSage has seen it all when it comes to fusing metal. And he’s had to accomplish it in the heat of the racing battle. Time counts, but so does personal safety.

The safety side of the equation is something Paul has never taken lightly. Let’s face it, in his gig of fixing race cars on demand, the conditions weren’t always perfect. He had to work on sometimes delicate cars filled with often-hazardous (to welders) materials. LeSage had pretty much used every type of protective clothing known to the welding world (and he also had access to plenty of name brand materials used by racers). Sure some worked to a certain degree, but there had to be a better answer. The result is a new welding product line dubbed (appropriately) “Torch Wear”.

According to LeSage, the fabric used in the construction of Torch Wear provides superior protection while being comfortable enough to wear next to the skin. He also knew the material and consequently the protective clothing he produced couldn’t prove cumbersome for the end-user. Delicate welding procedures mandate dexterity, but as pointed out earlier, safety was in fact the ultimate design goal. Torch succeeded in combining both dexterity and safety elements into his product. When exposed to intense heat or flame, the fibers in Torch Wear will carbonize and then expand, dramatically reducing the oxygen content within the fabric.

Unlike many of the most widely used fire-retardant fabrics currently available, Torch Wear fabric will not char, shrink or burn when exposed to heat and flame. In fact, LeSage spent considerable time and effort working with the fabric and product design so that it could withstand the rigours of various forms of welding (while we can’t go into it here, MIG welding has far different demands upon protective gear than TIG welding). The fabric is not a chemically treated material. Rather, it is a yarn created by spinning oxidized polyacrylonitrile fiber with an Aramid strengthening agent. Standard Torch Wear garments meet Hazard Risk Category 2 Standards.